Little Pieces of What Was Left Behind
by Mrfipp
Summary: Raven thinks about what she once lost, and who else might have lost someone.


Fipp: This was born from the music box scene being maybe one of my favorites bits of the game, and Raven's Choice hitting me like a truck.

 **Little Pieces of What Was Left Behind**

She tries not to look. She tries really hard not to look as she hears the train pull into the station below. Looking will do her no good, it never has, and it never will, and instead she tries to put her focus into what she is trying to do; eating a dinner of burger and fries from one of the food stands down by the fountain, with Kat sitting next to her on one of the rooftops of Auldnoir. Kat is talking quickly about... something, she thinks. She's moving her free hand a lot, using it to occasionally push Dusty away when he tries to get at her fries, feet swinging off the ledge they were sitting on.

Raven wished she had been paying attention to her, maybe it was something interesting, anything would be better than the temptation of looking down the streets below.

She hates that she's weak, and she hates that she looks down. It takes a moment, but she sees them, entering the fountain plaza, fresh from stepping off the train that had taken them from school for the day, and she can't take her eyes away from them no matter how much it tries. A boy, maybe only slightly younger than Kat, with a large bush of black hair on top of his head, and a girl, younger and shorter, with her own wild mane. They'd certainly grown up in the years since she first came across them (two for her, five for them), and she likes to say that it hurts a little less every time she sees them.

It's a lie, or course.

Zaza and Sachya, those were their names. The boy named after their grandfather, and the girl named after said grandfather's childhood imaginary friend.

She had noticed them the first time during time of Kat's absence (a year for her was only hours for Kat), seeing them around Auldnoir, where they must have lived. Raven didn't admit to know the train schedule too well, why would she, but it was clockwork to see them step off the train at this time with other children and teenagers, so it was safe to assume they were just coming home from school, and they came and went from school and never fell off the edge of the world. That never happened to Zaza, not her Zaza. He went to school that day, lived a life, grew up, had children, had grandchildren, and died. All this because he never had a little sister, who for some reason caused their bus to fall because there was something wrong with the very fact that she existed.

She's see them from time to time, sometimes together, or apart with other friends, and every time she had to stop herself from going down there to them. What was she supposed to say to them? Hi kids, I'm your grandfather's sister from a aborted time line? No, it wouldn't be right, that was his family, not hers. She didn't have one, never did, so she shouldn't want to know more about these kids, or their parents, or what kind of life Zaza ended up having. It shouldn't feel like her insides are being torn apart every time she thinks about how she was never apart of that life, or how that life came to and end, and that he was dead.

Sometimes, she hates Bit for giving back her memories of her life as Sachya.

Suddenly there's a rough tap on her shoulder.

"Huh?" she asks, turning to Kat, who is giving her a quizzical face. "What?"

"It's something the matter?" Kat asks, and Raven can't help but wonder if she knows what napkins are.

"No, why?" Raven says back, leaning back where she sat.

"Well, for one thing, you haven't said anything in like five minutes, and you've only eaten half your burger and fries."

Raven looks down at her container on her lap, partially filled with cold fries, while an unfinished burger rest in her hands. She shrugged. "I guess I'm not too hungry, here, you can have the burger." Unceremoniously, she dropped the burger onto Kat's plate.

A loud, surprised gasp escaped from Kat. "You! You're not hungry?"

Raven shrugged. "Guess not."

"Is something wrong?" Kat asked, a hand reaching over to the fries on Raven's lap.

Raven slapped the offending hand away. "The fries go to Xii," she said, placing the food to her side, allowing her guardian to hop up to them, where he began to peck and eat at them. On Kat's other side, Dusty mewled in annoyance. "And no, nothing is wrong."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm..."

Kat continued with her burger, silently this time, before eventually turned to the remains of Raven's.

Raven herself continued to look out over the town, Zaza's grandchildren long since gone, until eventually she found herself looking towards the World Pillar, her eyes tracing its length upwards until it vanished into the sky, to the city far above.

"Hey, Kat?"

"Hmm?" Kat mumbled, mouth full of burger.

"Do you ever miss Eto?"

A coughing fit suddenly erupted from Kat as she suddenly began to choke on her burger, pounding a fist to her chest, Raven was concerned that she would fall off the roof.

"Hey! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Kat choked out, before she finally came to a stop after several lingering wheezes. "Just fine! See? So, um," she said, her tone worried. "Why ask about Eto?"

"No reason, I just-" Raven sighed and turned away. "Never mind, sorry I asked. You probably don't want to talk about Eto, I'd hate it too if I were you."

"I don't hate Eto!" Kat called out, which caught Raven off guard, and from the look on her face, Raven assumed Kat was similarity surprised by her own tone. "I just-I just-" She gave a tired sigh, shoulders slumping and head lowering. "I just hated being queen."

Syd had told her details about this, about Queen Alua's brief rule. At times, she found it hard to believe that Kat had once held such a position, and if it wasn't for the fact that both of them had told her as such, she would have assumed that the whole trip to Eto was some odd dream.

"Everyone thought that I was some kind of mistake," Kat continued, eyes downcast to the streets below. "Kings and queens are chosen when they are children, but I was already grown, and I never managed to summon my guardian." To her side, Dusty pushed himself against Kat, rubbing her head against her side, and she gently scratched him behind his ear. A small smile found itself to her face, however briefly. "Whenever I wasn't in court, listening to the same people talk about the same things, I kept hearing them talk about me behind my back, calling me all sorts of things."

"..."

"No one would listen to me, no one took me seriously. They just wanted to ignore me, and pretend the darkness wasn't a problem. The only person who believed in me was Syd, and if he hadn't been there..."

She didn't say anything to follow that last sentence, but Raven felt she didn't need to.

Kat continued. "But, I never hated Eto though. It was home, and when I first became queen, I wanted to do my best to make it a better place for everyone there."

"Oh," Raven said, and a question formed at the tip of her tongue, the very one that spurred this conversation. "Did you have any family?"

It was ever so slight, but Kat winced, and she wondered if she had crossed a line.

"I did," Kat said, to Raven's relief. "Mother, father, grandmother. Over the last few months, I've been remembering more bits and pieces about my life in Eto, and my family are in a lot of them." She smiled, it was sad. "I miss them."

"Maybe, if you're feeling up to it, we can maybe head back up to Eto and-" Raven caught the words as she said them, a heavy filling her gut. She wanted to kick herself, she of all people should have known how time worked along the World Pillar, the higher you are, the faster times moves, and it would have been over one-hundred years in Eto since Kat first fell. She likely wouldn't have any family left up there. "Never mind, forget I said anything."

"It's okay. I did once actually think about it, about going back to Eto, but I didn't see any real point to it."

"Why not?"

"Because there's nothing up there for me anymore, I'd be a stranger up there. But down here? Hekseville, Jirga Para Lhao, they're my home now, and here is you, and Syd, Lisa and Cecie, people that I love. I'm not Queen of Alua of Eto anymore, I'm just Kat of Hekseville now, and I'm perfectly happy with that."

"Ah..."

They sat in silence after that, Kat slowly picking away at her food until there was nothing left.

000

In the days that followed, Raven began to regret bringing up the topic. Since their conversation on the rooftop, Kat had been somewhat withdrawn, though she maintained her usually bubbly self, it wasn't hard to tell that it was forced, and she would sometimes catch her looking up to the top of the World Pillar.

She didn't know how to fix this, to get her mind of the topic of a family that was no longer around, so she went and found the only person who might have even the smallest chance of helping.

"Sorry, I got nothing," Syd said, leaning against a brick wall in one of the lower level of Auldnoir.

"Some help you are," Raven flatly said.

"You know, I'm not really surprised she's missing her family like this. Back when she was queen, she never really had the chance to visit them."

"Sounds rough," Raven said with arms folded.

"They kept her busy a lot, mostly with pointless meetings and things like that, just so she would have any free time to herself. You know, despite being the most important in the kingdom, they really tried to make her feel as powerless as possible." It wasn't hard to notice the slight bitterness to his tone.

"So, did she ever visit them?"

Syd shook his head. "Not that I know of, for all I know the last time she saw them was when she went off to live in the palace. One of the first things she tried to do as queen was to see if she could get them to live in the palace, but I don't think I need to tell you how that went."

"So, back to square one then?" Raven turned around, her body glowing blue as gravity energies flowed through her, and Xii flying to her side, ready to fly off into the sky.

"Hey!" Syd called out to her, and Raven stopped to a float. Shifting her body around she turned back to him, staring at him with a weary gaze. "You know that song of Kat's? The one about the apple?"

Of course she did, it was popular in the two cities, she often heard it on the radio or sometimes preformed by street artist. Sometime she even heard Kat hum it when she thought no one could hear her. "What about it?"

"Wanna know where Kat got it from?"

Curiosity caught, Raven landed on the ground, and gestured for Syd to continue.

"Well, before Kat moved into the palace, her grandmother gave her a music box, and that box's tune is where the song came from, and I think she once said that the lyrics were something her grandmother made up."

"A music box?"

"Whenever she had a rough day, she would listen to it. It meant a lot to her."

"That could work for us. Tell me, where is it?"

"Back in Eto, I'm afraid."

"Dammit..." Raven growled in frustration. "How does this help?"

"I helped Kat out a few times with it, fixing it up whenever it needed repairs, it was rather old you see. So I figure, maybe I could try and make her a new music box."

"Could you?" Raven asked, a feeling of relief bursting through her chest.

"Maybe, never made a music box, but I'm certain I could figure it out."

"Because if you can-"

"I know, I know. Just give me a few days, and I'll see what I can do about it."

"You do that, Syd. Just know that I'm counting on this."

"If it's for Kat, I would dream of anything less than my best."

000

A few days, as Syd put it, turned into a week, and the following week was her flying around the two cities, flying from district to district getting him varying supplies that he swore were important for the task. She could understand the wood, the paint and the various mechanical parts, but she was highly doubtful that take-out from a stall in the Jirga Para Lhao was really all that important.

She couldn't argue with him though when he said it made the best sandwiches in the city. It was a principal thing, and she refused to be on the losing side.

"Hey! Is it ready yet!" Raven demanded as she flew up to Syd's side.

"Agh!" Syd cried out, almost losing control of his airbike, wildly swerving out of control and almost hitting a bus. The driver cursed at him as she out of eyesight. "What is wrong with you?" Syd cried out, regaining control of his bike. "You just don't sneak up on people like that! Especially when they are driving!"

"Did you finish the box, or not?" Raven asked again, not really concerned with with Syd's vehicular safety.

"Yes-Yes! I finished it! I was just on my way to find you, alright!" Finally reining control back of his bike. "Just give me a moment to land okay and I'll show you!"

Rolling her eyes, Raven distanced herself from Syd to allow him to land his bike, and when he was fully parked she landed next to him.

"So you have it?" she asked him as he was removing his helmet.

"You're certainly impatient, aren't you?" Syd said as dismounted and stood up. "But don't worry, I have it right here."

"That's good, because I-" Then, from the corner of her eyes, Raven noticed something.

Against the wall in front of her, the sun cast the shadows of the building behind her onto it, and against the clean lines of the silhouettes, she could see a shape move at the top of it.

"Is something wrong?" Syd asked.

"Hang on." Reaching down, Raven picked up a discarded can off the street. She then focused onto it, and in a pulse of gravity the can went flying backwards.

There was then a startled scream across the street.

"Kat?" Syd gasped, looking up.

With a sigh, Raven turned around and looked up to see her fellow gravity shifter, hanging upside-down, her body glowing red.

Kat gave a bashful wave. "Um, hey! How are you two doing? Nice seeing you two in this part of town."

"Have you seen following me around?" Raven asked, arms folded.

"No! I have not been following you around!"

"..."

"Okay, I was, but you've been acting weird these last few days!" Kat's body flew towards them, and Raven was prepared to jump out of the way of when Kat's face met the street, but she stopped in midair. At times Kat was hardly the most graceful thing flying in the sky, so it was nice to she her practice a little bit of control, even if it was something as simple as not crashing into a wall. "You've been acting all sneaky lately, you keep traveling all over the city and making stops as Syd's place." The glow on Kat's body vanished and she dropped to the ground, Dust reforming by her feet. "So what's the deal?"

Raven looked back to Syd, exchanging a knowing glance with him, and he opened the storage compartment on his bike, taking out a large brown paper bag that he then handed to Kat.

She looked at the bag curiously as she took it from Syd, glancing at him and Raven with a dose of apprehension, before she reached into the bad and pulled out what was inside.

"Okay, just what have you guys been doing then-Eh?" The bag dropped to the ground as Kat looked at the box in her hand, eyes wide as she gazed upon it. It was simple and white, with an apple carved into the front and painted red, Raven had to admit that Syd had done a good job with it.

Tentatively, her hand reached up and lightly gripped the edge of the lid, and then opened it.

The gears and metal inside spun, and a soft melody filled the air, and Raven recognized it as Kat's song. She was actually impressed with how well it sounded. Kat's eyes widened as the song played, never leaving the box as it played, and for a short time it did that, the sounds of the city and people around them no longer existing.

Eventually, Syd's voice broke through the music, "Raven told me you might have been missing your family, back in Eto. So we made this for you."

Raven continued for him, "I know it might not be as good as the one you left behind, but-"

The music stopped, Kat gently closed the lid of the music box, her hand lingering on it before she crouched down and carefully placed it on the ground. Raven sent an unsure glace towards Syd, who kept his own sights on Kat. Did they do something wrong, did they upset her?

Suddenly a weight was wrapped around her neck and she found herself being pulled down slightly. Kat as jumped at the, wrapped an arm around their neck and gripped them tightly into a hug as she brought them closer to her.

"Thank you two so much," she said, her voice almost straining. "I didn't know how much this I missed this until now. I don't even know how to repay you."

"Aw, come on, you don't have to do anything like that," Syd said, an arm reaching behind Kat to pat her on the back. "Always happy to help you out."

"Yeah... Don't think anything of it, okay?" Almost uncertain of herself, Raven repeated Syd's action, and was then hugging her as well.

Moments passed before Kat left them, pulling away from them, almost tripping, but when her footing was solid, she reached back down and grabbed the box, holding it tightly to her chest.

"So, I take it that you like it?" Syd said, a bit of pride in his voice.

"I love it," Kat said, nodding her head. "The music box I left in Eto was important to me, and I guess I was always a bit sad that I never got to take it with me. But this? I just can't-I mean you two didn't have to-"

"You're welcome," Raven said. Kat's face softened as she rubbed a hand against her eye, and Raven wasn't certain about it, but she thought for a brief moment that Kat had may have been possibly crying.

"You know what this calls for?" Syd suddenly said. "How I about I treat you to dinner? How about that diner in Vendecentre you like so much?"

"Eh?" Kat's eyes brightened up. "Really?"

"Yeah, let's say that we meet up there in an hour, okay?"

"Okay! Just, um, let me drop this off back at the pipe, okay?"

"Right, see you there," Raven said.

Nodding, Kat picked up her music box, and hugging it to her chest she shifted into the air, where she was quick to fly off to the lower reaches of the city. Raven couldn't help but notice that she was flying more carefully than usual, as opposed to how haphazardly she usually went.

"Just so you know, I'm only paying for Kat, not you," Syd said as he hopped onto his bike.

"What?" Raven gasped, turning back to him. "Why?"

"I can either feed both you and Kat, or I can pay my rent, not both." With that Syd flew off, leaving her alone on the street, along with various townspeople who went along their day.

Raven was about to leave as well, shift and fall into the sky, but just as she was about to that pain returned in her heart.

She saw them, the Zaza and Sachya who existed here, in this time, just up the street. She was so much closer to them than she had been in the last few years, not since the say of the funeral. It would take nothing for her to...

No... She would just have to live with this, even if it never stopped hurting.

And maybe she didn't want it to, because that meant how much Zaza meant to her, and no matter how much it hurt her, she would never have done anything different.

More often than not, she's thankful to Bit for restoring her memories.

Even though she would never have anything from her old life to bring her comfort, aside from the memories in her head, she was glad she was able to do something for Kat, and give her a little piece of what was left behind.

000

Please be well,

Mrfipp


End file.
